Pallet for industry



June 4, 1963 l.. DAVIDSON 3,092,046

PALLET FOR INDUSTRY Original Filed Nov. 28, 1956 United States Patent O3,092,046 PALLE'I FOR INDUSTRY Louis Davidson, 2.4 Waterview Road,Oceanside, FLY. Continuation of application Ser. No. 624,8S2, Nov. 28,1955. This application lian. 26, 1960, Ser. l To. 4,673 8 Claims. (Ci.10S-55) This invention relates to pallets on which goods are stored forconvenient pickup by industrial tractors having fork or platform hoistsprojecting from their front ends, or to keep merchandise above `foor.Such pallets are used for stacks of paper, empty cartons, cartons withmerchandise, and where the cartons can be stacked, and various othergoods.

When goods are shipped from a lfactory on pallets, it is desirable toleave the pallet at the customers warehouse for subsequent handling bythe customer. Expense and inconvenience are involved in the .return ofpallets to the factory and it is desirable to have pallets which areinexpensive so that they need not be returned. It is an object of thisinvention to provide a pallet which can be constructed of corrugatedpaper board, or of plastic; fibre board; metal; `or a combination ofthese. This reduces both the cost and the weight, as compared withconventional Wooden pallets, and it is a feature of the invention thatthe pallets of this invention can be folded into a flat condition whenthey are being shipped in quantity, or stored.

It is another object of the invention to provide a flat pallet havinglegs which can be brought into operative position quickly and withoutthe use of tools. Other features of the invention relate toconstructions which make the pallets economical to manufacture byautomatic machinery, and which provide the pallets with high strengthwhen in their set up positions ready to receive a load.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear orbe pointed out as the description proceeds.

This application is a continuation of my co-pending, allowedapplication, Serial No. 624,882, filed November 28, 1956, now abandoned.

In the drawing, forming a part hereof, in which like referencecharacters indicate corresponding parts in all the views:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of a pallet made in accordance with thisinvention;

vFIGURES 2 and 3 are side and end elevations, respectively, of thepallet shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a greatly enlarged sectional view taken along the brokenline 4-4 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary, transverse sectional view through a portionof the pallets and two of the legs but showing a modified constructionfrom that shown in FIGURES 1-4;

FIGURE 6 is another fragmentary, transverse sectional view showinganother modified form of the invention;

FIGURE 7 is an end view of another modified form of pallet having onlytwo legs and having an arch construction for stiffening the platform ofthe pallet;

FIGURES 8 and 9 are detail sectional views showing other modifiedconstructions for the legs;

FIGURE 1G is a transverse sectional view showing still othermodifications of the leg structure;

FIGURES ll and l2 are detail sectional views showing some additionalways by which the legs are held in position after being bent intooperative position;

FIGURE 13 is another detail sectional view showing another modified legconstruction; and

FIGURE 14 is a sectional view taken on the line 14-14 of FIGURE 13.

FIGURE 1 shows a pallet 2f) having a platform v211 and having legs 22,23 and 24 extending downwardly from the underside of the platform. Eachof the legs 2.2-24 is made by folding corrugated paper board along scorelines 26 to provide a V cross section and the panels which are foldedinto this cross section are braced in- -ternally by tabs 27 and 28struck Ifrom the sides of the legs and from the platform, respectively.

These tabs 27 and 28 are of generally triangular shape corresponding tothe cross section of the inside of the legs 22, 23 and 24, and they aresevered from the leg or platform structure along two sides while beingmerely scored along the other side to provide a hinge about which thetabs are swung into operative position when setting up the pallet. Othertabs y29 may be displaced from a side panel of one or more of the legs`for bracing the leg against folding outwardly. In FIGURES 1 3, thereare tabs 29 -on the leg 24, though they can be used on other legs. All`of the tabs will be more fully explained in connection with thesectional views.

The platform 2l may be made from a single thickness of corrugated paperboa-rd, or from plastic, fibre board or several layers of board. Whenmade with only one thickness of paper board, the corrugations preferablyextend transversely of the legs 22-24. When made wi-th several layers ofcorrugated paper board connected together, each successive layer mayhave its corrugations extend in the same direction as the otherlcorrugations or at right angles to the corrugations of the layer ofpaper board below. When the platform 21 is made with several layers,'and tabs 28 are struck from the platform, the tabs are cut throughalong all sides in al1 layers except the bottom layer. Thus, only thebottom layer provides a hinge.

FIGURE 4 shows the platform 21 with an upper layer 36 having a top sheet3l of paper attached to a corrugated layer of paper 3-2 which is in turnattached to a bottom sheet 33. This is a conventional construction wellunderstood in the art. The platform has a lower layer 35 made up of twosheets of paper 31 and 33 secured to an intervening layer of corrugatedpaper 32. In the construction illustrated, the corrugations 32 of thesuccessive layers 3f) and 35 extend at right angles to one another. Iftwo-ply corrugated board, with the corrugations all running in the samedirection is used, there is only one flat sheet between the corrugatedlayers.

FIGURE 4 also shows the leg 24 in section. The manner in which the legis attached to the platform 21 will be explained in connection withother views. For the present, it is sufficient to understand that theleg 24 is made up of the same* kind of corrugated paper board withsheets 3l and 33 attached to an intervening cor rugated layer of paper32, and that the corrugations in the leg extend in a vertical directionwhen the leg is in operative position.

All of the constructions shown in FIGURES 5-14 may be made withcorrugated paper board such as shown in FIGURE 4, or with equivalentpaper board constructions; but for clearer illustration on la smallerscale, no attempt is made to show individual layers of corrugated boardif such is used. Some features of the invention, especially theconstruct-ion of the legs from sheet material with E the reinforcingtabs struck from the panels of the legs, can be used with other thancorrugated sheet material.

FIGURE shows one construction in which the pallet has a platformcomprising an upper layer 41 `and an underlying layer 42. There is abottom layer 43 of the pallet platform with slots 44 extendinglengthwise of the pallet for receiving the upper ends of legs 46. Thebottom layer 43- is held in spaced relation to the layer 42 by a shimlayer 48. The different portions of the shim layer 4S are spaced fromone another to leave a slot 50 the slots 44 and Sil formdownwardly-facing channels or grooves in the bottom of the pallet; andeach of the slots Sil is made substantially wider than the adjacent slot44 so that there are side channels or undercuts on both sides of thedownwardly facing groove for receiving edge panels S1 and 52 at theupper ends of the legs 46.

In the construction shown in FIGURE 5, the leg 46 is originally aseparate piece from the pallet platform. When setting up Ithe pallet,the leg 46, originally supplied in a flat condition, is bent along acenter score line 26 and then it is bent along other score lines 56 toprovide the outwardly extending edge panels 51 and 52.

In order to insert the panels 51 and 52 into fthe side channels orundercuts provided by the excess width of the slot 50, the upwardlyextending sides of the legs 46 are brought close together so that theedge panels 51 and 52 can pass upwardly through the slot 44, and thevertical portions of the leg 46 are then separated toward their upperends to force the edge panels 51 and 52 into the side channels, abovethe layer 43 and on opposite sides of the slot 44. In order to preventthe sides of the leg 46 from coming together again, the tab 27 is foldedinwardly, as shown in FIGURE 5. The tab 27 is originally flush with therest of the panel from which the leg 46 is made and they are severedfrom the panel, at the time of manufacture, along all except a scoredside line 58 which provides a hinge for swinging the tab 27 inwardly.

FIGURE 5 shows another leg 60 of the same construction Ias the leg 46except that the cross section of the leg 60 is a substantially isoscelestriangle whereas the cross section of the leg 46 is arsubstantiallyright triangle.

FIGURE 6 shows a modified construction in which the legs of the palletare made from panels permanently attached to the platform of the pallet.In FIGURE 6 the platform has an upper layer 41 and an underlying layer42. These two layers 41 and 42 are preferably continuous'across theentire area of the pallet. A third layer 63 has slots 65 extendinglengthwise of the pallet for providing side channels into which edgepanels 67 extend when legs 63 and 69 are in operative position.

There is a bottom layer 71, in the construction of FIGURE 6, extendingunder a substantial portion of each of the slots 65 so as to hold theedge panels 67 of the legs against ydownward movement after the edgepanels have been inserted through slots in the bottom layer 71 andthrust into the space between the bottom layer 71 and the confrontingsurface of the layer 42.

The leg 69 has an edge panel 73 attached to the bottom layer 71 byadhesive, or by stapling, or in any other suitable manner. I'his is apermanent connection of the leg 69 to the platform of the pallet; andwhen originally manufactured, the leg 69 lies flat along the bottomsurface of the bottom layer 71, as shown in dotted lines in FIGURE 6.

The leg 68 is permanently attached to the platform of the pallet lby anedge panel 7S,` but in order to have an originally flat construction,there is a spacer 76 between the edge panel 75 and the bottom layer '7.1of the pallet platform. This spacer 76 is of the same thickness as thematerial of the leg 69. When originally manufactured, the leg 63 lies`hat against the spacer 76 and the leg 69, as shown in dotted lines.

After the legs 68 and 69 have been folded along their score lines andassembled with :the platform of the pallet in the positions shown inFIGURE 6, the legs are held in their extended positions by bendinginwardly tabs 27 in the manner 1already described in connection withFIGURE. 5.

For use with lift trucks having lifting forks, it is usual to providethree legs for supporting a pallet; but for lift trucks having platformsinstead of forks, it is necessary lto omit the middle leg of the pallet.

FGURE 7 shows a modified construction having only two legs, and havingthe pallet platform constnucted in a way that increases its stiffness.vIn FIGURE 7, the pallet platform has an upper layer S0 and a bottomlayer 81. These layers are parallel lto one another, but spaced somedistance apart to provide clearance for an intermediate arched llayerS4. rI`his arched layer is secured to the bottom layer 81 oversubstantial areas of contact ou both sides of the pallet, but it isspaced from the bot- -tom layer by spacing means S6 extending lengthwiseof the pallet. The spacing means 86 may be a continuous strip or it mayconsist of a row of blocks spaced from one another. The layers S0 and 81are held in spaced relation at' a number of different locations byspacing means 88' which may be `continuous strips extending lengthwiseof the pallet, or rows of blocks, as in the case of the spacing means86.

FIGURE 8 shows a construction similar to FIGURE 6 but with the crosssection of the leg substantially a right triangle. Parts which lare thesame as in FIGURE 6 are indicated by the same reference characters; andparts which correspond, though of different shape, are indicated'fby thesame reference character with a prime appended.

FIGURE 9 shows a construction similar to FIGURE 8 but `with the leg ofrectangular cross section instead of triangular. `In this constructionshown in FIGURE 9, the edge panels of the leg are indicated by the samereference characters as in FIGURE 8, but the lower portion of the legincludes two downwardly extending panels 91 and 92 connected at theirlower ends by an intermediate panel 93. As in the other constructions,the panels 91 and 92 lare originally flat, and in line with theintermediate panel 93, and they join the panel 93 along score lines 26.The leg shown in FIGURE 9 is held in expanded position Iby tabs 95struck out of the side panel 91 or 92, or' from bothside panels. Thisvleg of rectangular cross section is not as ri-gid as those oftriangular cross section, :but it provides -a larger area of contactwith the floor and wears'less if the pallet is to be given continuoususe.

FIGURE l() shows another modified construction in which the legs arepermanently connected to the pallet platform but held inV extendedposition in a somewhat different way than in the other constructions.The platyform in FIGURE 10 includes a top layer 41 and a second layer42. 'A leg 100 has an edge panel `102 permanently secured 4to the layer42 of the platform by adhesive, stapling, or other means, as previouslydescribed. The leg 106` has a downwardly extending panel 104 joined atits'upper end to lthe edge panel 102 along a score line, and joined atits bottom edge to another upstanding panel 106 'along a score line Z6.

Instead of having Aan edge panel at the upper end of the upwardlyextending leg panel 106, the upper edge of this panel 106 is set into adepression 110, formed in the bottom surface of the platform layer 42.This depression 110 preferably extends for the full length of the palletplatform and is made by applying a distorting pressure lagainst thebottom surface of the layer 42 during the manufacture of the pallet. Theleg is held in expanded position by a tab 27 struck from the leg 100.

The leg 100, shown in FIGURE 10, has an additional feature forincreasing its rigidity. This feature includes a bracing tab 29 struckfrom the leg 104 and movable into a position to serve las la gussetbetween the leg 164 and the edge panel 102. This gusset bracing can alsobe -used with lthe legs shown in the other views where the angle betweenthe leg and the top edge panel permits a gusset or bracing tab to bestruck from an upstanding panel of the leg.

FIGURE also shows a leg 116 attached to the pallet platform by an edgepanel 118 and spacer 119. This leg 116 has its free edge held in placeby setting into a depression 110, as already described in connectionwith the leg 100. The leg 116 is held in its extended position by atriangular tab 28 struck `from the platform layers 41 and 42 and hingeddownwardly into the in- `terior of the leg 116.

FIGURE l1 shows a leg 122 similar -to the leg 100 of FIGURE `10 exceptthat it has a substantially triangular cross section and has no gussetor bracing tab. This leg 122 has an edge panel 124 permanently securedto the platform panels 41 and 42, and it has its free edge set into adepression 110 in the bottom of the platform.

FIGURE 12 shows another construction in which a leg 126 is attached tothe platform of the pallet without the use of iadhesive means. The leg126 is originally supplied as a at panel, separated from the palletplatform, and after folding along the score line 26, one panel of theleg 26 is inserted into a channel I128, and `the other side of the legis set into a depression 111i. There may be no permanent connectionbetween the leg 126 and the platform of the pallet, friction in thechannel 12S being relied upon to hold the leg. This is the simplest legconstruction shown in any of the figures of the drawing. Adhesive can beadded, if desired.

FIGURE 13 shows a construction in which a leg 130 is made from a striphaving a center panel 132 secured to the pallet layer 42 by adhesive134, or staples, o1' any other permanent fastening means. Side panels135 and 136 are connected to the center panel 132 along score lineswhich permit the panels 135 and 136 to be bent downwardly from theoriginal at, dotted line positions to the full line positions shown inFIGURE 13. Thus, the side panels 135 and 136 form a leg of triangularcross section. These panels 135 and 136 can be connected together attheir lower ends by staples or other fastening means but are preferablyconnected together by striking a tab 138 from the panel 136. This tab138 swings inwardly and engages the edges of a slot 139 cut in the panel135. The tab 138 has edges that diverge toward the upper end of the taband these engage edges of the slot 139, which preferably coverage towardtheir lower edge. The tab 138 and the slot 139 are preferably of similarshape so that corresponding dies can be used on the machine by which theleg of FIGURE 13 is manufactured. FIGURE 14 shows the structure ofFIGURE 13 viewed from the line 14-a14 of FIGURE 13.

The preferred embodiment and a number of modifications of the inventionhave been illustrated and described, but changes and other modificationscan be made and some features can be used in different combinationwithout departing from the invention as defined in the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A load-supporting pallet including a platform having a top part andat least one lower layer and made up of distinct planar sheets ofmaterial, legs spaced from one another transversely of the platform forsupporting the platform from an underlying surface, the legs includinghollow ridges formed of sheet material, each leg having panels connectedtogether along a scoreline, and the panels having upper portionsadjacent to the bottom of the platform, at least two panels of each legextending downwardly away from the bottom of the platform when the legis in operative position, the leg being of substantial fore-and-aftextent, means connecting each of the legs to the platform along an upperportion of one panel, grooves in the bottom of the platform and each ofwhich is formed by displacement of material from the platform includingthe lower layer thereof, each groove opening downwardly and having theupper portion of the other` panel extending into it, said upper portionof the other panel, being held by a side of the groove against lateraldisplacement in at least one direction, said lower layer extendingintermediate the legs and across the lower side of the top part of theplatform for substantially the full width of the transverse spacing ofthe legs and being attached to the top part at least in the centerregion of the transverse spacing between the legs and bracing the toppart against bending at said center region between the legs wherebending moment is a maximum, the opposite side edges of said lower layerintermediate the legs constituting sides of successive grooves.

2. The load-supporting pallet described in claim 1, and in which saidsheet material is corrugated sheet material and the legs extend for mostof the length 4of the platform.

3. The load-supporting pallet described in claim l, and in which thereare tabs displaced from the material of certain portions of the palletbut still connected to said portions of the pallet along score linesthat hinge the tabs to the pallet along one side of each tab, the tabsbeing of an outline that fits the hollow interior of the legs, and thedifferent tabs being oriented to swing into position where they extendacross the full inside cross section of the leg to brace the downwardlyextending panels of the leg against bending inwardly when the pallet isloaded.

4. The lo-ad-supporting pallet described in claim 1 and in which thereare tabs displaced from the material of certain portions of the palletbut still connected to said portions of the pallet along score linesthat hinge the tabs to the pallet along one side of each tab, the tabsbeing of an outline that ts into the hollow interior of the legs, andthe different tabs being oriented to swing into positions where theyextend across the full width of the inside cross section of the legalong at leas-t a portion of the height of the leg to brace thedownwardly extending panels of the leg against bending inwardly when thepallet is loaded.

5. The load supporting pallet described in claim 1 and in which theplatform has at least three layers and the two lower layers provide agroove for receiving said other top portion of each leg, the bottom oneof the two lower layers being of greater transverse width than the layerimmediately above it to provide an undercut on the side of the groove,and said other top portion of the leg including a panel that fits intothe groove and into the undercut and that extends parallel to the bottomof the platform when the leg is in operative position.

`6. The lo-ad supporting pallet described in claim 1 and in which theplatform has three layers, and a -leg of the pallet has panels alongboth of the top portions of the leg extending parallel to the bottom ofthe pallet when the leg is in operative position, and there is anundercut on -bofth sides of the groove formed by extensions of thebottom layer :beyond part of the groove in the next layer immediatelybelow i-t so that the leg is held on the pallet by the top portions ofthe leg panels, tucked into the undercuts of the groove, and there is atongue displaced from the material of the pallet and extending acrossIthe lfull `width of the hollow interior of the leg, and both sides `ofthe leg are held engaged in the undercuts by the tongue as a fillerwithin the leg.

7. The load supporting pallet described in claim 6 and in which the legsare separate pieces from the platform and connected .to the platformonly by the -tucking of the top edge panels into the undercuts of thegrooves, and the tongues are formed `of material `displaced from theplatform .above the leg but secured to the platform along a score linewhich serves as a hinge for the tongue.

8. The load supporting pallet described in claim l and in which theplatform above the legs has tongues displaced -from the platform andextending downwardly into the `legs from hinge yscore lines along whichthe tongues remain connected to the platform, the tongues extendingacross the full Width of the interior cross sections of the legs tobrace the legs yagainst inward collapse of their downwardly-extendingpanels.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,605,901 ONeil Nov. 2, 1926 8 Stone Apr. 29, 1941 Baumann Dec. 7, 1954De Villers May 8, 1955 Eilstrom Aug. 14, 1956 Wright Oct. 8, 1957FOREIGN PATENTS France Apr. 20, 1936

